Princess Jackie
by AmbientSpaceNoise
Summary: A stoned Kelso tells Eric to pick up a likely fuming Jackie from cheerleading practice, and he reluctantly agrees. Neither Eric nor Jackie expected such a simple task to take such a drastic turn...not exactly for the worse, however.
1. Lowly Peasant

_**Author Note:**_ _Hey, guys! This story was originally going to be a smut piece...with the overall EJ theme/story still present in it but after I actually started writing it, I felt like smut would have been out of place, like really out of place. It got a more an emotional/humorous feel to it the second I started writing it...and alas, no smut...but I like it better like this so… :-D There is some T rated themes and some language, but I think we are all adults here. But if you are an adult and have a problem with a couple swear words (the big 'F' one, oh no!) then there's an icon with an arrow pointing to the left towards the upper left hand corner of your screen...I'll be here all week. :-D I'm not expecting many readers but I felt another EJ story for their loyal fans wouldn't hurt anybody and I had a ton of fun writing this. I tried to make this as original I could so I hope you like it._

 _This was sort of inspired by this binge mode I had in the 'Star Wars and Lip Gloss' community (How awesome a title for EJ is that? That is EJ in a nutshell!) of the FF site, which is worth a look! Some stories that aren't well known are in EJ lore are present in that community, so if you like some EJ mushy goodness, go check it out!_

 _ **IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ:**_ _Jackie Burkhart and Michael Kelso got back together in that episode "The Trials of Michael Kelso" in season 3 and this takes place after that episode, maybe...let's say, 2 weeks afterwards so Jackie and Kelso's relationship can settle again and they can start to feel those pesky insecurities about their relationship lurking inside them...again...enjoy! Most definitely AU! God, am I sorry for the long author note intro! (Me telling you about how long it is, is only making it longer...on with it!)_

 **Princess Jackie - Chapter 1 - Lowly Peasant**

 _Eric Forman's Basement_

 _1977_

 _Point Place, Wisconsin_

Eric sat on top of the freezer in the already cold air of his basement, reading his 'The Man Behind The Red Hood' comic book...trying to that is. Eric needed to something to do while waiting for his comforter to get done from being in the dryer, he usually would join in on a circle with his friends, but wasn't up to it today for some reason.

Hyde, Kelso and Fez were fresh out of a circle and enjoying their sweet high. Eric was lucky enough not to get a contact high from the smoke, trying to be as level headed as possible to read one of his favorite comics, it was kind of hard to do so with their hysterical laughing.

"Oh man, so get this! It doesn't even run on gas, dude...and you won't believe this next part...it runs _on_ …" Hyde intentionally trailed off as he was informing his friends on something in which the Zen master was clearly convinced on its spectacularity, and his 2 friends were leaning forward eagerly waiting for Hyde to tell them.

 _"Why do I have a feeling I know what the punchline is? Are we ever going to make a breakthrough in these circles?"_ Eric mused to himself with a smile helplessly crossing his face.

After waiting some time, Hyde gave them his answer…

"...fully oxidized hydrogen!"

This caused the teen sitting on the freezer stop reading his comic, "Oh…?" Eric thought in genuine surprise as he looked up from the text and sketched action scenes of his book as his head tilted in curiosity, like a dog would when the owner tells him/her they'll be going outside soon, upon hearing Hyde's punchline, he actually put his comic book down in his lap to actually listen in on this one, "Holy shit, are they actually on to something?" he couldn't help but think as he listened with some honest-to-God interest.

Kelso and Fez both leaned back, "Well, that sounds even more expensive than gas, Steven!" the foreign friend retorted, and Kelso couldn't help but nod in agreement, "Yeah, dude! That sounds all...science-y. Screw that!" the kettlehead threw in.

"That's the thing, though!" Hyde shot back, as he quickly fanned his hand through the empty air to clear the still present smoke away from his face so he could see his friends, "Do you even know what fully oxidized hydrogen _is_?" Hyde condescended as he requested their attention yet again with his tone, and Eric was even giving in to his orphan brother's tone, with his ready alertness to hear him as well.

"It's water, man!" Hyde revealed.

And Eric loudly scoffed out loud and just rolled his eyes...although he couldn't help but think he should start paying attention in science and chemistry class if he actually bought into that, hook line and sinker, "Still...they're talking about the same old crap!" he thought to himself, _"To be fair, I'm sure I'd be laughing my ass off with Kelso and Fez right now had I joined in on their circle…"_

"That's amazing, dude! Why isn't this like, water-car...thing not on the streets right now?" Kelso asked.

Eric chuckled and decided to chip in, "The government won't make money with those things driving around...right, Hyde?" he asked rhetorically.

Hyde pointed over to Eric in a very exaggerated fashion, "YES!" he shouted loudly, oblivious to the fact his foster parents were still upstairs, Eric loudly shushed back at Hyde, "Jesus Christ, keep it down! You've only just smoked how many bowls? Do you want them to come down here, huh?! I'd be an accessory!" Eric harshly whispered at Hyde, although Kelso and Fez were still wheezing and struggling to breathe from their laughter.

Hyde looked up, "Oh, yeah...right...quite a few bowls by the way…" he replied as he adjusted his trademark glasses from the bridge of his nose, shifting them back over his eyes, "...but that 'water car government' thing is true and it's about damn time you started listening to me, Forman. There are probably warehouses full of these cars...just gathering dust." he told him, his arm finally coming down from pointing in an unnecessary fashion.

Kelso inhaled from his gasping laughter, "Oh, shit! I forgot to pick up uh...come on, I know this...Jackie...from…!" he started but his already stuttering mind went blank even further, "Uh...God, where is she? Someone help me out…?" the rightfully titled kettlehead asked his equally stoned friends as he scratched his head.

Kelso and Fez looked at each other, after both of them timed out from a lack of knowledge, they turned to Hyde by default, and he shrugged his shoulders, "I don't keep tabs on her, man! I guess she's walking home, huh?" the foggy aviator glasses wearing rebel stated, "Ha!"

Kelso couldn't help but laugh as well, "Yeah, and it isn't even my fault this time!" he told his friends, Fez patted him on the back, "Yeah! It really isn't your fault, you just couldn't remember where she was, so she can't be mad at you!" the foreign exchange student assured his buddy, "Don't think about it too much or you actually might remember, okay?" Fez suggested, patting him on the back.

Eric laughed at how stupid his friends were under the influence, but he couldn't help but notice that Kelso really wasn't taking his recently rekindled relationship with his brunette as seriously as he should have been, he felt bad for Jackie believe it or not, she deserved more than this, _"Whoa...actually might be getting that contact high…"_ Eric thought to himself for thinking of Jackie in this light, _"Well...maybe not. She is actually trying to make this fledgling relationship with Kelso work...actively trying to save a relationship with Michael Kelso is pretty respectable, right?"_

As if on cue from Eric's thoughts, Michael Kelso decided to chip in with this: "Dude, I could totally see through Leslie's shirt in woodshop today. And she wasn't wearing a bra either!"

 _"Or a waste of time…"_

Eric knew his own relationship with Jackie was...pretty non-existent. Even though she didn't like him, he knew Jackie was maturing gradually and he noticed that, he didn't hate her at all. Eric always thought it'd be nice to be friends with her, whenever she talked with Donna or the rest of the gang, the raven could be pretty funny in her own unique way.

Eric chuckled remembering Jackie blunt delivery of: _"Michael, I told you; I don't like the_ _ **south**_ _!"_

Eric tried not to give her a hard time, she was dating Kelso...wasn't that punishment enough?

She deserved more than just a break.

"Kelso? Jackie's at cheerleading practice." he informed his friend, in turn, Eric's stoned stable of friends looked at him in annoyance.

Eric smiled sarcastically, "Your welcome." he stated in a chipper tone.

A complete bash of jeers was then directed at him, Fez referred to his homeland's language to ridicule Eric and Kelso lashed out with his trademark loud, shrill and offended gasp, "Damn it, Eric! I was in the clear and everything, what the hell is your problem?!"

"Gee, _bi-ig_ shocker!" Hyde told him in a very obviously agitated tone as he slumped in his chair, "Forman is always the one to ruin my high!"

"Screw you, Eric! You suck!" Kelso harshly shot at him.

Eric gave his own and genuinely annoyed 'tsk' in reply, but it was meant for the kettlehead and just the kettlehead, "Kelso...really, just...shut your little whore mouth." Eric retorted with some genuine anger.

Hyde let out one of those laughs in which his lips were closed but an exhaling laugh caused a giddy _'pbbt!'_ sound to come out of his mouth instead, leaning over in his chair, "Ha-ha-ha-ha! Nice burn, Forman! You just gave me my high back!" he admitted as he cracked up with laughter that soon turned into uncharacteristic giggles.

Kelso looked at his friend who was lost in laughter, and who he thought was supposed to have his back in the situation, and saw Hyde losing his mojo in a giggle fit, knowing Fez of all people would have his back, he looked at his foreign friend...and even Fez was covering his face in laughter, not wanting Kelso to see it.

"What the hell, guys?" he asked in that tone, the one Kelso used to convey how offended he was to his friends and girlfriend. It didn't occur to Kelso that maybe it was the pot that was making his friends lose their cool in giggles.

"Sorry, man...it just came out of nowhere! Totally unprovoked! Haven't heard Forman make a burn like that since his _'Carnation Instant Bitch'_ burn to Donna!" Hyde defended himself.

Eric shook his head, not sure if he should actually do what he was about to do, "No, Hyde. It wasn't unprovoked, okay?" he told them in the most serious tone he could, and it worked as his 3 friends looked at him to hear him out, Kelso's eyebrows were arched downwards upon hearing that, not looking forward to Eric's upcoming speech because truth be told, he hated when his friends put him in his place like this, since Kelso truly believed he was in the right about almost everything, he knew that he was mostly wrong (subconsciously) about an awful lot, but that wouldn't change anything about Michael Kelso's lovably idiotic attitude.

Eric sighed, shaking his head at how dumb his friend was, he hated it sometimes because it would lead to moments like the one that was about to happen, "Look Kelso, I am _not_ Jackie's BFF but I can say for a fact that you are taking her for granted. You and Jackie literally _just_ got back together and now, your crap is starting up all over again...you are borderline neglecting her. I don't even think I can blame Jackie for the problems you guys are having, it's all you, man. I'm sick and fucking tired of seeing it, sick of seeing my friend act so clueless about what's wrong when it's you yourself causing the problems." and Kelso just looked back at Eric in awe, most definitely taken back that he was putting him in place and worst of all...defending Jackie!

Hyde was grinning, as Eric going off like this was a rarity and something Steven loved seeing since his foster brother never really had the guts to fight back verbally like this, unless he truly believed in what he was preaching, so his rightful rants were like that whole Haley's comet event: it came around once in a blue moon and it was truly awesome to witness in person. Stories from another person don't do it justice.

Eric sighed deeply, "Kelso...I love you, man...but you are even a bigger dumbass than I thought if you don't realize what you have in that brunette. She may not treat me the way she treats everybody else but that's for a reason; because it's a bittersweet joint effort on our part to cut each other down. It's what we do together, it's our thing but that doesn't mean I'm so ignorant to see that Jackie isn't an absolute sweetheart...well, to everybody but me." he pointed out, "Jackie treats you like you should treat her...like a princess. Or… you know, a prince since you're a guy...or...whatever, nevermind." he told his friend, using those patent Eric Forman hand gestures to convey his point throughout.

Kelso's mouth was hung open, taking it all in, "Wait, you think I treat Jackie like crap?"

Eric exhaled through his nose in disbelief and shook his head, but decided to put Michael Kelso in his (much needed) place, "Whoa, look at _this_ , now! Watson didn't even need Sherlock to help him crack this case, he did it all on his own!" Eric sarcastically lauded Kelso, holding his hands out and clapping for effect, "Dumbass…" he threw in for good measure.

Hyde was giving a look of 'proud father' at Eric for taking such a needed 'stepping up' for Jackie. Hyde always held Jackie in high regard after their date on Veteran's Day, that was the day he saw there was more to her than he had originally thought, she could be sweet and thoughtful for those she cared about. Jackie at least had some sense of who she has and a set of morals...which Hyde respected about her giving her upbringing, girls with the parents in high places like she had, they didn't have to care about what other people were going through and they were somehow fine with that. Not Jackie. Hyde always singled out that aspect of Jackie for straying away from their pack of high class assholes like she did, the brunette was the rare exception to that cliché.

This lead Fez to stand up, literally and metaphorically, for his friend and he immediately lost his balance and fell over on his ass, "Ah!" he squealed out as he hit the concrete floor, moving past his epic fail and seemingly ignoring the snickers of his friends, even Kelso, he stood up, "Okay Eric, that is quite enough! Don't you see Michael is on the verge of tears?!" Fez shrilled to Eric, and to Eric's surprise, the group's foreign friend was serious.

Kelso first got a look of shock, then embarrassment, "Wait, what?! No, I'm not!" he defended himself, Hyde snickered even more seeing this take place.

Fez turned to Kelso, "Yes, you are! I can see your lovely brown eyes tearing up…" he told his friend.

"No, I'm just high, that's all! It does stuff to your eyes!" he would shout.

Hyde started laughing his ass off, while Eric just smirked at Fez unknowingly helping out Eric's own cause, and Kelso was looking between his other two friends like a hyper oscillating fan, "No, I'm not! Don't listen to him guys!" he told them frantically, he then turned to Fez, "Fez, just shut up! You're not helping me at all!" the kettlehead shouted, he then attempted to punch Fez in the shoulder but missed by about 2 feet, somehow.

Fez gave him a strange look, and Kelso just pressed his fingers to his closed tight eyes for some sort of way to alleviate the stress, and his altered state, "See?! I'm not supposed to have these kinds of talks when I'm this high, you guys. I thought this was a group of friends having' a good time together and not this...some sort of...judging circle…and Fez, you're not helping!"

Fez shook his head, "Well, you don't know what you want...and someone has to stick up for you, Kelso. You know, in my homeland…" Fez started in a matter-of-fact tone, as he was always happy to talk about his home country. Eric locked eyes with Hyde, or his glasses rather, and they both just grinned at the situation...and just Fez in general.

Fez unnecessarily cleared his throat, "...whenever the lowly village idiot that everybody loved for being just that, was being ganged up on, some of us would have to stick up for him out of pity...cause he's so dumb and can't stick up for himself effectively, you know?" Fez explained in a nonchalant tone, this made Hyde laugh even harder and even Eric had to chuckle at that, as Fez was truly trying to help his friend, but was failing miserably.

Kelso and Fez's relationship together was almost endearing, they were both idiots but they had good intentions. And together, they were like the C3PO and R2D2 of their gang.

Kelso looked at Hyde who was slumped on his chair, head thrown back laughing, and then he looked to Eric who had a laughing smirk, then to Fez who was cluelessly wondering why Hyde and Eric found this funny, "Who the hell cares how do they do things in your _stupid_ homeland, wherever that is!" Kelso angrily told his foreign friend.

Fez's eyes widened and his eyebrows furrowed, "Here I am trying to be a good friend and help you out! And don't you DARE talk about the Falkland-!"

"Fez!" Eric's tone a scolding one for getting so sidetracked, oblivious to the fact that Fez was in the process of revealing his homeland for the first time.

He then turned his attention to Kelso, "Seriously Kelso, you need to go pick her up. She's going to freak out on you when she decides to walk all the way over here. I'm trying to help you out here, man. I'm pretty sure it was supposed to rain today." Eric explained, he put his comic down on the top of the top of the freezer to the left of him and pushed himself off of it.

"I smoked just as many bowls as Hyde did! Do I look capable to you?" Kelso asked rhetorically, "And now I have to smoke even more cause you're bumming me out so much!"

Hyde chuckled, "I don't what you're talking about, Kelso. I'm having a grand old time!"

"It's easier to deal with Jackie when I'm not sober." Kelso added.

Eric shook his head, "Kelso, you are not even capable of the bare minimum..." he informed the kettlehead, but Kelso did have a point as Eric noticed how red his eyes were and that stoned 'staring into the wind' look glazed on his face, "...but yeah, you shouldn't drive a car...at all...even sober...so…" he admitted with his hands on his hips.

Kelso's eyes blinked rapidly for no particular reason, most likely due to the pot, "You go pick her up, dude. You're not doing anything important…" he pointed out, his hand pointing about 5 feet left of the freezer where Eric's comic actually was, it almost made Eric crack a smile at his stoned buddy, but he was a little too worked up to do that, "I mean, you're reading that book with the red bucket man in a tux but that isn't import-"

Eric's hand reached back behind him almost immediately, his fingers ripping the book off the freezer, and held it up for Kelso to see, displaying what his idiot friend was trying to describe, "That...is 'The Joker', you moron! And it isn't a red bucket...it's part of his alter ego, the Red Hood." Eric defended the very thing he devoted most of his time to, he wasn't going to take this from a stoned Kelso of all people!

Hyde shook his head and laughed, "Forman, really...nobody cares about any of that..." he ended with a chuckle and leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms over his stomach.

Eric rolled his eyes, "Whatever. Hyde, you could back me up on this whole 'Jackie thing', you know I'm right."

"Oh, I agree with you on Kelso treating Jackie like crap but he has a point with-"

"Exactly!" Kelso interrupted and nodded his head.

Hyde gave Kelso a confused look, looking to Eric and Fez who were just as confused, "Kelso, I don't even...wow. Anyways man, I'm on Forman's side on this one. You don't treat Jackie very well at all. You knew you had to go pick her up but blazed up with us anyway, that was pretty lame on your part." Hyde retorted to the kettlehead who looked shocked of course.

Hyde then tilted his head in thought, looking away from Kelso, "Hmm. Come to think of it, _I_ sure wouldn't mind picking her up right now...getting to see Jackie in that _sexy_ little cheerleading outfit after a long day's practice? Following a 3 hour workout? _Damn_ …" he stated, more to himself as he stared off into space, deep in thought.

The spaced out Steven blinked, seeing his friends staring at him with Eric shaking his head with a smile, Hyde was torn from those thoughts, "...Oh, well." which earned him a glare from Kelso, the kettlehead would have frogged him on the arm, but he wasn't confidant he would actually connect with the punch.

Hyde looked back to Eric though, "But he has a point with us not being capable to drive, Forman. You were too much of a square to join us in the circle, reading your stupid little book, so as a result, you are more qualified to pick the devil up." Hyde informed his foster brother in a teasing tone, with a grin to boot.

Eric groaned which was immediately greeted by Hyde, "Oh, shut it, Forman! Think about this, man..." he explained leaning forward in his seat, "...Jackie. Cheerleading. _Jackie_ in her _cheerleading_ outfit. 'Nuff said." Hyde told him a growing grin, Eric had to admit if only to himself, Hyde had a point: Jackie looked _damn_ good in that outfit, Eric had a hard time not looking at Jackie and those ridiculously good looking legs of hers in that uniform when she happened to come into the basement with it on, even when he was with Donna, he couldn't help but stare.

Fez's eyebrows shot up, "Eric! Didn't you say it was raining? Oh, man! Why are you complaining? Soaking wet Jackie in a cheerleading outfit!" he practically squealed.

Hyde looked at Fez, "Don't make it weird, Fez." Hyde told his friend, looking back at Eric now, he tilted his head, "Our perverted foreign friend _does_ have a point though..." he added with a devilish grin.

Eric scoffed with a hopeless smile, "You forgetting she has a boyfriend, guys?" he asked, "You know... _that_ idiot right there?" Eric asked pointing to Kelso, he was getting more pot out of the little baggie, oblivious to the conversation.

Eric then shook his head, "And she thinks I'm repulsive, so..." he pointed, he couldn't help but get bummed out at Jackie's opinion of him. He sure didn't mind admitting Jackie was beautiful, even if it was only to himself, there was no harm in that, right? On the other side of the coin, the brunette certainly didn't mind telling Eric _exactly_ what she thought of him...and there were never compliments...except one time when Jackie told him she thought he was 'such a good guy' but Eric knew it was only because she needed a friend at that moment, she thought she was pregnant after all. Eric knew Jackie didn't actually think that.

Anyway, her burns wouldn't get to Eric as much if Jackie didn't make sure she told him just how pathetic he was in front of his friends. It made Eric almost avoid burning her because she could always one up him. Eric avoided Jackie entirely in that respect.

Fez was giggling like a giddy little girl on the couch, for no apparent reason.

When he stopped, he noticed everyone was staring at him, "Heh. Before, you said Eric was too much of a _square_ to join us in the _circle_...oh, how you have a way with words, Steven." Fez told Hyde with a goofy smile, to which the red eyed Zeppelin loving rebel smirked proudly.

"Yeah…" Hyde stated looking at Eric with a damn cocky smirk, "...I'm _so_ ahead of my time...a rebel poet."

Eric just groaned, running his hands over his face, "My IQ is lowering the longer I'm in the presence of you guys." he told them, looking at the sight of his friends surrounded by the hazy smoke, accenting the smoke was the single light above the table, Eric noticed with the cable spool table in the middle of the room, they resembled the picture of the dogs playing poker...if the dogs were stoned.

"All the more reason to leave and go get Jackie!" Kelso told him with a stupid smile, "Take her car so she won't have a reason to come back here though, okay?" he told him reaching out to the table to retrieve the keys, then throwing them to Eric but the keys hit the floor and slid under the freezer.

Eric sighed as he observed, "Well, at least my super bouncy ball will have some company now. Your plan wouldn't have worked anyway since _I_ wouldn't have a way to get back since Jackie can't drive." he explained, "Not too surprised you didn't think that through, though. I'll take _my_ car and she'll have to walk _8 miles_ to get here and pick up _her_ car tomorrow...which I'm sure you're completely fine with, right?" Eric told Kelso in a condescending tone, he patted his pocket to make sure he had his keys and walked towards the door.

Kelso shrugged his shoulders and nodded, "Yeah, why not?" he stated nonchalantly.

Eric stopped at the door after hearing that and stared at his friend, he was now quite concerned for Kelso, "I know you love Jackie...right? Come on, man. She loves you, you love her...yet you guys are in a really bad funk right now." he was really trying to reason with Kelso. But then Eric remembered he was trying to relate to someone (Kelso, no less), who was stoned.

 _"That was a mistake on my part then…"_ Eric thought to himself as he twisted the handle on the door, not opening it yet as Kelso spoke.

"How do you think she gets here everyday? She walks!"

Eric's jaw tightened in anger, just thinking about Jackie walking all that way just to be with this utter dumbass, "Really? _Really_ , Kelso? I know you're stoned right now but I kind of want to slap your hollow head, man. Cause this isn't that far off from how you normally act." he told Kelso who was already rolling another joint.

Eric shook his head, "I don't have to do that since you'll be suffering soon enough." he stated as Kelso looked back at him as he had the joint in his mouth and the lighter just under the tip ready to light it but was looking at his friend speaking, a rather poetic image, "Jackie has enough pride to know she doesn't need to take this crap from you, and she'll just dump your ass and maybe get someone who will take just 20 minutes out of their day to pick her up from fucking cheerleading practice." he scolded his friend yet again, but Eric didn't feel bad about it, he saw Hyde looking over his shoulder at Eric with a small smile on his face.

Eric pointed his finger at Kelso and added one final thing, "You might not remember me telling you all of this...but what I'm telling you will all come to you naturally after she gets fed up."

Hyde looked at Eric and nodded approvingly as if to say _'You tell him, Forman…'_ with him looking back at Kelso, who was actually considering this, taking it in...but it didn't last long as his thumb flicked the lighter.

Eric bit the inside of his lip to abate the rising frustration and he opened the basement door and was immediately greeted with the sight of fog and rain at the top of the stairs, water dripping down the steps, with that rainy, breezy and amplified fresh air like smell that came with rainy weather entering his nostrils, and a lot of it, the pitter patter of rain roughly hitting cement, water smacking metal as it poured from the gutters of distant houses. It was pouring rain with small pieces of hail mixing with water gathering at the landing of the stairs.

"Oh, damn it, Kelso!" Eric scolded as he quickly walked away from the door and past the couch where his friends were, and grabbed the Green Bay Packer helmet off the stand by the stairs and turned, aggressively slamming the green and gold helmet down on the kettlehead.

Eric then brought his hand harshly to the green **'G'** on the side of the helmet that was on Kelso's head, a loud _'thwack!'_ echoed throughout the basement as his hand connected and Kelso's head jolted to the side, "Ow!"

Eric was fast as he went over and quickly opened the dryer door and retrieved his comforter from the soothing and hot heat of the dryer, he didn't know if Jackie was still waiting outside the football field where the cheerleaders practiced in the freezing and wet environment, or if she was walking home, or she hitched a ride with one of her friends, but he knew he should be on the safe side considering the harsh weather as he gathered the still hot blanket into a ball in his arms and headed for the door, shooting an annoyed glare at Kelso, who still had the stupid helmet on his head and it looked rather appropriate.

 _"If the shoe fits..."_ Eric thought.

As Eric headed out the door and outside, not bothering to shut it, he heard numerous 'thwacks' coming from behind him in the basement, followed by Hyde and Fez laughing as they took turns smacking the helmet on Kelso's head, "Guys, cut it out!" Eric heard Kelso plead.

Not knowing if Hyde and Fez were doing this for fun or because they too thought Kelso deserved it, or both, Eric didn't care as he trudged up the steps out into the rain and hail, jogging out to his car.

 _Okay, that's the first chapter! I'm not sure what to think about this chapter, I tried the best I could but to be honest, I wrote this to get to the main meat of the story, kind of like what Age Of Ultron was to the other Marvel movies: an excuse for what's to come. (Having seen Infinity War? I can say it was SOOOOOO worth it! lol) But still, I'm proud of this 1st chapter, I think...I'd love to hear your thoughts. I don't know what I'm expecting in terms of reviews, views and all that good stuff, because I wanted to try something different from my usual humor and romance, although this story will have that sprinkled in it, it's not the main focus, I kind of wanted to do an Eric and Jackie friendship piece...but it takes a small detour in the final chapters. This might be like 5 chapters long_ _ **perhaps**_ _with small smut, I'm not sure yet :-) Thanks again for reading!_


	2. Enter The Princess

_**RATING WARNING,**_ _there is some_ _ **adult language**_ _in this chapter, and I can't be f**ked to check the rating guidelines at the moment, but it's only swearing and nothing smutty so I don't know if adult words that would warrant a dolphin sound effect on Spongebob means I have to bump this story to_ _ **'**_ _M' rated. I think we're all adults here and you can take it. There are some T Rated stories on here that are pretty freaking edgy and smutty ('Just Practice', anyone? lol) so I'm not the first one ;-) Thanks for the kind words for that first chapter posted damn near 2 whole years ago, you guys are too nice to my stories, really. Thanks again!_

 _If you are a returning reader for this story...God bless you, I can't tell you how much it means for anyone to come back, I've said it before but my updating is among the worst on the site, and I'm sorry for that. My anxiety and stress can kick in on a dime, and unfortunately, it does affect my drive to write. Not to mention my German Shepherd had to be put down, so that took some time to bounce back from._

 _Now, this chapter is pretty damn long, it's just the way it turned out, so I'm sorry about that, if you guys want shorter chapters, just let me know :-)_

 **Princess Jackie - Chapter 2 - Enter The Princess**

Eric did his best to try to locate Jackie on the sidewalks of Point Place as he made his way to the high school, but he had trouble due to the fact he could not even see past 5 feet in front of his car as it was, he mentally told himself to invest in fog lamps for his Vista Cruiser. The heavy rain was smacking so hard against his windshield, he thought it might crack through, which surprised and worried him, and the fog made him drive unbearably slow as to not get into an accident, at the same time, Eric wanted to get to Jackie as fast as he could, it was cold enough in his car, he couldn't imagine what it felt like outside in freezing cold rain.

" _Why does mother nature come to Wisconsin to vent her frustrations?"_ Eric wondered.

Not seeing Jackie on the street, he finally arrived at the school's entrance and pulled in, he could see where the non-inspired grass practice field was, but the field had a bad horror movie-like area of fog, so dense with mist and rain and even hail, _"Oh, Jesus...I'll be a burnt and crisp shell of Jackie's fire blazed rant if she's waiting in this…_ " he thought to himself as he couldn't imagine how long Jackie had been waiting out here, if she had waited out there at all after cheerleading practice was something he hoped was the case, Jackie really could have hopefully caught a ride from her cheerleading friends.

The entire parking lot was bare from vehicles, the tall street lights placed along the lot weren't even turned on. Eric couldn't even see anybody at all, as he drove outside the sidewalk of the practice field with the only sound being the pounding rain and his ridiculously squeaky windshield wipers. As Eric drove along the sidewalk just off the football field, his wheels caused arcs of water to shoot up from the puddles, he couldn't even see the water as it shot off at an angle a couple feet deeper into the mix of fog and rain, disappearing into it.

It was just really eerie not to see a single person on the entire outdoor property of the school, then again, it was always eerie to be at school after hours, almost forbidden, although the fog may have given that illusion, including not seeing Jackie as well. But then again, she could be standing on the sidewalk just off the football field and he wouldn't have been able to see her through this fog.

Eric finally parked his car, the problem was that Eric was near sighted, so he couldn't see the far away details through the fog, "Maybe they canceled." he told himself matter of factly and with some hopefulness to it, he knew he and Jackie weren't friends but Eric would never want her to be waiting in the unforgiving weather conditions of freezing cold rain, whipping winds and hail.

Eric sighed as he turned the ignition off and looked out in the field and saw nothing but fog, he then honked his horn for about 2 seconds but that, from what he could see, didn't seem to jolt any of the nothingness into movement.

So Eric decided to wait, letting his head fall back against the headrest, almost immediately after doing so, he sprang his head up after hearing his passenger side door handle abruptly jerk and roughly rattle, "Agh! What?!" he yelled out in a rather feminine yell, just based off his twitchy instinct. Eric couldn't even see through the window to see who it was, now the window was getting pounded on, "Eric?! Open this Goddamn door now! _NOW, YOU IDIOT!"_ and upon hearing the voice Eric knew who it was.

Jackie's dominating and also frantic voice was flat out panicking Eric himself as he fumbled to unlock the doors, he would make fun of Jackie if she was in her…normal mood, meaning unnecessarily bitchy and confrontational, but when she was in her little rage mode like right now? No fucking way.

Jackie could yell and scream that the Earth was flat to Eric and he would throw all rationale out the window if it meant he could be on her good side for the rest of the conversation.

"Oh, shit! Uh...hold on? Oh, fuck...come on." he muttered out nervously, thinking he hit the 'Unlock' button, and her yelling didn't help things, there was something about Jackie's voice that could shake the world leaders to their knees.

Unfortunately, Eric hit the 'Lock' button on accident, _"Stupid-ass GM! Why don't they properly label these stupid things?! They should go bankrupt!"_ leading the pissed off brunette to yank the handle of the door, throwing him off kilter, he finally hit the 'Unlock' button but Jackie kept pulling on the handle every time, nulling his efforts and keeping it locked.

"Jackie, stop pulling on the damn door! You're the one keeping it locked! Just quit it!" Eric scolded with some authority, she finally went still outside the door, to the point where Eric could actually hear the wind caterwauling and rain mixed with hail roughly hitting his car, but Jackie was still latched onto the handle, and waited, Eric precisely pushed the button again, allowing her to finally open the door.

The second the 'click' was heard, the now unlocked door was whipped open and Jackie threw herself in the car in a flash, "What in the fucking _**FUUUUCK?!**_ " her scorched yell sounded like it came from her gut, it caused Eric mouth to completely ajar itself and his eyebrows raised up in total shock, he had never heard her cuss before, let alone the biggest swear word there was.

Verbally, Eric pegged Jackie as more of a _'Oh, golly gosh!'_ kind of girl...

Jackie then roughly slammed the door shut with a scornful groan, _**"Argh! FUCK HIM!"**_ she roared as the force of her slamming the door caused the whole car to shake slightly, and Eric clearly heard something metal break apart in the inside of the door and _'ting-ka-kling'_ it's way down the interior of the door, Eric wasn't about to get on the brunette's case for slamming his door, his car wasn't exactly in mint condition, and every little thing that was Jackie at this moment was dedicated to anger and hurt (but mostly seething anger), and that told Eric to back the Hell off.

Eric blinked out of his taken back trance as he observed her, she was completely soaked, water now dripping down onto his seat, Jackie's hair, which was normally a shiny but downright vibrant and beautifully curled sight to behold, was now slickly dripped down her head like black paint, Jackie was in no other clothing besides the basic cheerleading outfit that one would expect her to have, no long sleeve clothing on her arms or legs, "Um...uh, sorry...about that? Uh..." Eric stated, he tried to have some assurance in his tone but the structural integrity of his confidence was reduced to that of brittle when Jackie Burkhart's guttural screaming curses occured.

Jackie was shaking and shivering, her upper body was leaning forward on her legs, her arms were crossed over her chest with her hands clutching her forearms, trying to do something to warm herself up, seeing her so exposed in such a terrible state made Eric briefly not associate her as the female version of Mephisto, and the boy sitting next to her almost wanted to comfort her in some way, so he gently put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't fucking _**touch**_ me!" Jackie shouted in a brutally scolding manner immediately upon his gesture, Eric ripped his hand off of her like she was on fire, "Fuckingshitsorry!" he squeaked out in a jumbled mixed mess of words, jolting back at her outburst.

Jackie hadn't moved from her odd position of being hunched over her own body, "Just d-d-drive! Go, now! GO!" she snapped out at him, the raven haired girl hadn't even looked at him since she entered the car, the brunette even scooted across the seat towards her door, away from him, clearly not wanting to be interacted with in any way.

Eric tried not to take it too personally, he couldn't really blame her given what she had to go through today...and pretty much any second she spent with Kelso, although he couldn't help but notice that this wasn't that much of a change from how Jackie normally treated him...still, Eric wanted to help her in some way, but he knew what she _needed_ at the moment was the heating system in the car, but that was long defunct in the life timeline of his Vista Cruiser.

"Oh!" he stated suddenly, remembering what he brought for this specific reason, to which Jackie finally looked at him with a confused/annoyed look on her face, in the progress breaking the streak of her not even looking at him since she entered the car, he reached in the back seat and got the blanket in one hand and pulled it over the front seat.

Jackie, after seeing what it was, helped yank it over the seat as quick as she could, but before attempting to cover her body with it, she asked, "T-t-this is, uh...clean, r-r-right?" her voice quivering with her teeth chattering against each other.

As the blanket was just slightly touching her arm, Jackie could have sworn this dark blue stylized blanket was emitting a calm, almost comforting heat. The brunette wasn't sure if it was because she had to sit out in the freezing cold rain that she was psychologically and physically misinterpreting anything as being warmer than what she had been having to endure through for the past hour, or if it actually was as pleasantly warm as she thought it was.

However, Jackie didn't care how cold she was, because if this blanket came from the back of Eric Forman's car, she was going to take a shower with Comet disinfectant from even having her hand _touching_ this if the last time this was used was to have some sort of makeshift bed for Eric and Donna while they…

" _Urgh…NO_ _ **...**_ _just_ _ **, NO.**_ _"_ Jackie thought upon that.

Eric noticed her voice was just below her trademark Burkhart Hell Fire laced tone, but at the same time, it was softer and quieter, "Yeah, it's clean, don't worry and I just got it out of the dryer actually, so..." he assured Jackie, upon learning this, the brunette quickly tried wrapping the large comforter around her but Eric could see she was having trouble getting it over her shoulders in an almost fumbling manner, her body looked too frigid to move despite Jackie's efforts to ignore it.

Due to her wet clothes and skin, Jackie's attempts to wrap the blanket around her were resulting in a non cooperating friction from the blanket on her body as it clumsily and awkwardly slid across her in all the wrong ways, "Stupid...fucking...Goddamn… _ARGH_!" the brunette cursed irately, Eric could see her patience worn down to the bone, to the point where even the metaphorical bone itself would be under stress. Jackie looked close to losing it or even on the verge of sobbing (see: _Kelso, Michael_ ) and Eric didn't hold it against her.

Regardless of her previous actions towards him just 15 seconds ago, Eric decided to, at the very least, _try_ to help her again, he knew _if_ she didn't have a reason to be upset and she was her regular old _'Burkhart-Devil-Bitch'_ for no good reason, he wouldn't even bother helping her. Hell, Eric knew he would be his own _'Forman-Weakling-But-Still-A-First-Class-Asshole-Sometimes'_ selfwould be shining through right now as well.

Eric wasn't going to be a dick if he knew she didn't need it at the time. All the other times, she didn't have a reason to be just a generic popular girl bitch. This definitely wasn't one of those times, the normally prick-esqe Jackie had a very good reason to be _angry_ at the world...if not wretched with despair at her romantic life as well.

With that, Eric started cautiously, "Hey uh, h-here, I can help...okay?" he informed her, and he could see that Jackie looked hesitant even for that, but she didn't immediately object him.

Jackie didn't look at him but she stopped trying to get the large blanket around her when he offered help.

"Fine." she simply stated, no emotion, Eric could tell she was ignoring her pride just this once.

Not sensing a fist heading for his throat anymore, Eric pulled the blanket down and over her back and she quickly leaned forward allowing it to drape down her back which was what she had been trying to do before, she allowed him to throw the left flap of the blanket over the left side of her body, Eric's arm reached around her shoulders to fan the rumpled blanket off the right side of her and properly wrap it around her as the whole blanket finally covered her body from the neck down.

Jackie remained stiffly still throughout Eric's helping hand, slightly uncomfortable as she couldn't envision herself _ever_ letting Eric do this to or for her at any other point in her life...but given her situation, _"Beggars can't be choosers...or some shit…"_ she thought absentmindedly, and plus, the brunette just didn't care for anything else other than getting home and forgetting about everyone in this stupid town...and dipping into her mother's private wine cellar...and even some of her housekeeper's pot.

The raven haired girl finally looked, albeit awkwardly, at Eric as he finished and scooted back in his seat, Jackie could tell that Eric himself wasn't sure how to react to his own gesture knowing how paradoxical it was of their whole 'relationship'.

"Um...I, uh...thanks...thank you." she murmured quietly...but she still made an effort to making sure it was just loud enough for him to hear, Jackie really didn't know to handle Eric being...well, so...nice? It was an oddly sweet and even affectionate gesture from someone that she would expect the polar opposite from. That said, Jackie knew Eric could be understanding and even kind of nice when the raven haired girl was at her most stressful and worried, it certainly wasn't the first time he helped her out.

Jackie pushed aside the kind deed from Eric out of her mind and moaned out loud as the blanket settled over her body, the heat becoming quite noticeable, "Jesus…" she stated as her eyes closed and let her head fall ragdoll against the window, she winced at her own careless action but the pain from doing so subsided within a couple seconds, Jackie was doing her best to secure the heat in between the blanket and her body, not wanting any of it to escape.

Eric coughed and cleared his throat, awkwardly trying to move this 'thing' along, "Taking you home, right?"

Jackie just nodded, "God, _yes_. I don't want to even _see_ or hear anything about that stupid mentally defunct buffoon for the rest of my damn life." she replied while her voice oozed with anger and malice.

Eric chuckled softly, glad even Jackie could see Kelso's head was of the 'empty' variety, and with that, he turned the key in the ignition, and the horrid sound that no one wants to hear starting their car greeted the two, and it came from under the hood of the Vista Cruiser, Jackie groaned loudly and raised her head, "Hold on, it...it's fine." Eric assured while he twisted the keys towards him again, waited, and slowly twisted them forward again and the engine grinded slowly before it actually started up.

Jackie breathed an audible sigh of relief, letting her head fall against the window carelessly again, a thud emanating from the window, "Thank God...I was just going to start losing my shit." the brunette stated.

Eric actually laughed, which made the brunette turn her head slightly to look at him, "What do you mean, _'start'_ , Jackie? I'm pretty sure Red and his old war buddies would have told you to take it down a notch after that scorch of a verbal stretching you had before." he informed her with a teasing smile.

Jackie's mouth opened just slightly in thought, the brunette actually felt as if she was coming out of some sort of a dissociative fugue state from the last couple of minutes as she thought back to her prior emotional state, "Yeah...I don't think I've ever even _said_...the 'F' word before." she pointed out, a pondering look on her face, "Huh…it feels kind of liberating." the brunette stated quietly, feeling somewhat content for the first time that day.

"Actually, those uptight lab coats say it's _supposed_ to relieve you of stress. Plus, to be honest, Jackie...it was pretty glorious...it was quite an honor to hear it from the posh little princess herself…" Eric told her, not an ounce of sarcasm in his voice, "...like hearing a cat barking...or Nixon telling the truth, heh-heh." Eric noticed his attempt at cheering Jackie up with humor didn't have much effect, realizing that politics were something she most likely didn't give a shit about.

Jackie groaned as she re-positioned her head against the window, underestimating how hard she hit it before on the window as she could feel a slight bruise on the side of her forehead, "Stress relief, eh? Then Michael Kelso is a Goddamn stupid fucking idiot-bastard." the brunette muttered sourly.

" _Jesus Tap-Dancing Christ…"_ Eric thought after _that_ one as that may have been a _bit_ much on Jackie's part, but still, Eric made no effort to defend his dumb friend.

Eric chuckled, "You forgetting you have an image to uphold, Jackie? You should tone down the swearing."

Jackie rolled her eyes, "Just fucking drive."

Finally exiting the school grounds, Eric and Jackie sat in silence, and while neither would say it was awkward, but they wouldn't say it was a comfortable silence either.

Eric was mostly thinking about what Jackie was going through in her head, mostly likely going back to her foul mouthed opinions on Michael Kelso, _"Is it weird I like hearing her cuss like that? It's just more funny than anything else..."_

The car had to come to a stop at an intersection, even though no other cars were on the roads at the moment, the red lights were annoyingly lingering as if they were stuck in traffic in Times Square, and Eric looked over at Jackie.

She was just looking down in front of her and Eric could see that Jackie's eyes were teared up, and he could clearly see the moisture didn't belong to the rain that dripped down her face, they remained dormant in her green and brown eyes, these tears weren't falling anymore, they remained on the very rim of her eyelids, "I know this might sound stupid...but, uh...are you okay?" Eric asked softly as he focused on her, his tone telling Jackie he was genuinely concerned.

Jackie Burkhart inhaled and then exhaled loudly through her nose, "You're right...that did sound _stupid_." she stated as the tears finally dripped out her eyes as she blinked and down her cheeks, but the brunette's face was emotionless it seemed, almost as if the tears were a result of her emotions just being on autopilot.

Eric gave up and sighed to display just that, " _Why is she always like this?!"_ he was looking forward to see if the red light was now green so he could just get her home and out of his hair, but it hadn't changed. He couldn't even see the stop light post in full detail through the window, as it was dripping down rain to the point where the windshield wipers couldn't clear the water for less than a single second before it was covered again. The fog actually amplified the red light as it filled the air around them, it made Eric felt isolated with Jackie...he hated it.

So he decided to just kept his mouth shut as, like always, his attempts to get closer to Jackie would end in him feeling stupid for even bothering.

A gruff yet feminine exhale unexpectedly filled the air after Eric sighed, "I guess I should apologize, huh? If it weren't for you, I'd be dealing with hypothermia right now...so yeah...sorry...I guess...uh, yeah." Jackie's tone was that of someone who clearly didn't _want_ to apologize, but more so forcing herself to, this led him to turn his head and look at her with hesitant eyes, but he couldn't help but then laugh softly as he took in her apology: _"...sorry..._ _ **I guess**_ _..."_...even when Jackie budges...she doesn't, really.

"Eric, I'm just...s-sick of all this _bullshit_...from Michael...from my own damn parents, just everyone and everything. I know they say it's 'part of life'...and all that damn stupid shit..." Jackie stated in an sarcastically vexed tone, her mouth and jaw was jittering from her body being so freezing from before, it made Eric want to pull her into a hug...God, he hated her sometimes but seeing his worst enemy so frail and vulnerable made him not care about any of their past transgressions.

"My mother is a g-goddamn _drunk_ and daddy doesn't give half a shit about anything but money while they embrace their little 'dragon of grandiosity' when in reality they haven't really earned jack shit." the brunette added…

...her mental filter had let it's guard down.

Jackie's eyes went wide not even one second after her sentence was finished, not truly believing she just said that out loud to _Eric_ , her mouth fell slightly open and her face locked frozen, she subconsciously compared the expression to the many times she accidently bit her tongue and froze her body completely to wait for the pain to subside.

" _Everyone knows that daddy cheats on mommy, and mommy drinks and probably cheats on him in return, you idiot. Is it really that big of a secret?"_ she told herself.

Revealing to Eric that her parents were _beyond_ fault ridden and not even close to being the perfect parents she made them out to be...like Red and Kitty were, meant she just gave him unlimited ammo for a future burn.

The brunette finally looked over to him, hesitantly, not really knowing what to expect and she found him looking at her, but didn't find his face judgemental, nervous or even laced with pity, Jackie couldn't really get a reading on his face at all, actually.

Eric licked his lips, "I think _my_ mom should hang out with _your_ mom." he said with a small laugh.

Jackie blinked, "W-what?"

Eric shrugged, "My mom drinks, too...just saying, they might get along. You probably have the best alcohol money can buy, my mom would be in absolute heaven if she ever found herself at your place."

Jackie shook her head, her brain fizzing out a bit on her from what Eric said, "Uh, n-no, y-you're not getting it. My parents _suck_ , Eric! They are monumentally shitty at absolutely everything involving a child, they are completely clueless on how to be a parent..or being responsible! Your parents actually-they _care_ about you, they actually _want_ you to talk to you about your problems!" she shot at him, sitting up a little more, now that her brain wasn't thinking about Michael, she also found herself distracted enough to not focus on how freezing she was.

Eric couldn't contain the chuckle at that, "Ohhh _yeah_ , Red lets me be an open book when it comes to talking about my first world problems." he told her with a faint smile, an almost teasing one, "I move him to tears when I talk about how the Vista Cruiser speedometer won't work. Red actually _encourages_ me to bring these things up when the Packers are on, Red absolutely _loves_ it when I do that, especially when the Packers are actually _winning_." Eric had a hard time getting through that with Jackie's quite surprised expression growing throughout his teasing, as her facial features were now morphing into anger.

Eric finally sighed with a defeated smirk upon seeing this, "Come on Jackie, I'm just trying to lighten-" he tried to start but was cut off almost immediately, as Jackie's mental fire was nearing the end of it's wick.

Jackie's eyes were wide but she had fresh tears now much to Eric's genuine bewilderment, "Fuck you, Eric! _Fuck_ you! I open up for once in my whole _life_ about my parents and THAT is what you have to say to me?! Are you kidding me?!" she shouted at him, and his Eric's eyebrows went down in confusion at her outburst, "Jesus Christ Jackie, I was just-!" Eric was starting to say but he immediately recognised the look on her face from witnessing Jackie and Kelso having fights in his basement: Jackie was about to start swinging and his reflexes had his hands going up in defense. Another indication of this was her fumbling her right hand out of the blanket, clenched in a fist, and instincts were completely accurate as Jackie was throwing literal punches, as she began to hit Eric's forearms non stop as they were covering his face so the borderline methodical Jackie saw this left his torso open for attack so the brunette threw an actual legit _punch_ to his exposed ribs, which led to a sharp breath exiting his lungs, "OW! Please Jackie, stop! I'm just as pissed with Kelso as you are!" he reasoned through his short breath, Eric obviously noticed that no more wild punches and crude palm thrusts were smacking his body and he hesitantly lowered his arms away from his face.

Upon seeing her, Eric noticed she didn't have much to say to that, and for the moment, she was quiet but her face looked like a cross between being very upset but also wanting to know if she heard him right, "Be honest Burkhart, how would you _want_ me to react to that?" Eric started but stopped, he was about to be honest with the brunette devil herself which never really ended well in that past. The latest example was just a minute ago.

And still, the red traffic light had not changed, the red light still filling the car.

"Believe it or not, I kind of...sort of...respect you...I guess...so I would _not_ pity you right to your face, because whenever you've gotten that from any of your friends in the past, you think you're above that and you scold us for doing so. Now I'm not omnipotent Jackie, I don't know what you want here, because you know what? I _do_ pity you! You're…" Eric's voice had been raising just slightly throughout, and he finally caught himself and lowered his voice as he knew Jackie being yelled at about this particular subject wasn't the best way to go about it, "...you're dating Michael Kelso, for God's sake. I was just trying to...make you feel better? Like, a joke...or something?" Eric verbally fumbled around, desperately trying to find a defense for his actions.

The brunette just stared holes into him, her glare making him feel even more uncomfortable, "By joking about my mother's drinking problem?" Jackie asked in a menacingly heavy voice, her surprisingly threatening eyes never looking away from his worried ones.

Eric's eyes went a little wider in shock at his own dumbass self, also a little surprised Jackie could always call him out on his faults like that so easily, not just his gangly-lanky looks and general maladroit personality which he always thought was too harsh, but he could see the Burkhart girl's patented _'Jackie Judgement Vision 3000'_ didn't just apply to one's visuals, but impressively had much more of a range on it, "Oh, God...wow...uh, yeah...I have a tendency of…um, uh...shit..." Eric didn't want to trail off but he didn't know to word an apology for saying something so monumentally insensitive and downright dipshit-esque...even _Kelso-like_.

The sole noise of Jackie inhaling through her nose and exhaling out of it yet again filled the air as she helpfully finished his statement for him, "...Making an ass out of yourself? Yeah, no shit." she shot at him before sitting back farther in her seat and looking out the side window, slipping her hands back in the blanket. Eric could see she was now reverting back to her original action of not looking at him anymore as she tightened the blanket around her more tightly before sighing loudly.

Eric shook his head at himself, "Jackie, for what it's worth, I'm so sorry. Like, _really_ sorry. I don't know why I thought that would help, like at _all_...I guess, I don't know you as well...and I think I'm used to Hyde's way of dealing with family issues by joking about how exactly screwed up it is."

The brunette looked back at him with her head slowly turning to stare at him again, Jackie's gaze still made him slightly nervous mostly cause he couldn't get a read on it at all, but getting a read on anything Jackie did was never his strong suit - or anyone's strong suit, really. That harsh red color illuminating her scowling face from the still red traffic light didn't help at all too. If anything, it just confirmed his suspicions of her literally being the devil. He had some visual proof to it now.

He was genuinely taken back to see Jackie's demeanor actually slowly breaking into a _smile_ , albeit faintly, but still a smile…

...Eric was now scared shitless.

He nervously awaited a barrage of hits and slaps but the brunette let out a scoffing laugh, "Yeah, well...compared to Michael, Eric? You're the freaking therapist of the year…" she stated and Eric couldn't believe she was actually praising him...well, by comparing him to Michael Kelso...so it might been more of an insult, or at least that was how he felt.

"Yeah well, uh...I try. Key word being _'try'_ , heh." Eric replied with a hesitant chuckle.

Jackie let out a small chuckle herself in return, "You know he once tried to cheer me up by having me and him watch that _Fantasia_ movie…? That weird Disney one?" Jackie asked, fighting through her heavy and tired eyes, looking at him.

Eric cocked an eyebrow, "Compared to lighting your house on fire, that sounds quite Shakesperian of him, I have to say." he admitted, not sure if Jackie accepted his apology, but seeing her opening up like this made him feel a lot less uneasy.

Jackie let out a shivering laugh once more, "It _could_ have been romantic...except he said he wanted to watch it with these, quote/unquote, _'cool breath strips'_ that he got from some guy outside school." the brunette explained, her smile never going away as she described this story.

Jackie actually got a kick out of Eric's slowly pondering reaction as he simply stared at her, his expression suddenly going from interested to weirded out, "Uh, Kelso got something _he_ called _'breath strips'_ from a stranger outside the school?" he asked and he didn't notice the light had finally turned green, lighting up the car in a pleasant green hue and he honestly didn't care enough to leave, not before he heard the rest of this little 'fable'.

Jackie just bit her lip, before her small hand came out of the blanket and covered her mouth and the brunette began to giggle softly to herself, and Eric could see this was probably a way for her to relieve some of the emotional drainage of this whole evening.

Eric stammered for a second, "I-I just...uh…" but he could see Jackie just thought his reaction was even funnier as she began to lose it in her giggle fit even more.

"Good Lord, Burkhart...did...did Kelso unknowingly try to give you... _acid_...not literal _corrosive_ acid...which I definitely wouldn't put past him at _all_...but full blown _LSD_? _That_ kind of acid…?" Eric slowly asked, he could see Jackie nodding but not being able to verbally reply to him due to her wheezing uncontrollably.

Jackie soon inhaled and let out the hysterical laughter she had been holding in, "HAHAHAHAAA!" Jackie's loony laughter was loud and shameless, it was if Jackie had gone completely mental which Eric wouldn't hold against her if what she said was actually what he thought it meant, Jackie inhaled deeply again trying to compose herself and she was met with somewhat of a success as 'The Joker' like laughter died down but were replaced by more of her uncontrollable giggling, it was more quiet now, or at least enough for Eric to continue.

Jackie finally opened her eyes and more tears were coming out now, but Eric could see that they were from the laughing, and Jackie was looking at Eric while still giggling to see what, if _anything_ , he would say to that, "...and _then_ he wanted to watch a film that would make even a sober man _feel_ like he is on acid? Am I getting this right, Burkhart?" he asked really trying to hold back the urge to join her in laughter, he couldn't explain it but Jackie Burkhart's laughter and even her smile at the moment were almost infectious, but his question only made Jackie go even further into her full blown giggling mess.

Eric just watched her continue to giggle uncontrollably, for him, it was one of those stories where it was _so_ hilarious, he actually just _couldn't_ bring himself to even laugh at it, he just sat there dumbfounded while simultaneously not surprised at all, and without thinking, Eric put a hand on Jackie's shoulder, not even remembering her reaction to him doing so before, and to his surprise, the raven haired girl didn't jolt back and beat the crap out of him, she was either too busy in her laughter or didn't mind it this time, "Jackie, you poor... _poor_ thing." he stated finally letting out a laugh, which only proceeded to make her lose it even more.

Eric had never seen Jackie laughing so hard, not even when she joined the coveted circle for the very first time…

 **" _Oogley Moogley…" Jackie stated as if it were something Hyde would say, the brunette was the only one who found it genuinely funny as she made a strange laugh with chewed up bits of Oreos falling out of her mouth._**

...and what surprised him even more was that he found that he... _liked_ the sound of Jackie Burkhart's laughing, he couldn't figure out why _now_ was a good time for him to notice this along with the sound of Jackie cussing before, but Eric found her laughing borderline irresistible and even adorable to listen to. Maybe it because their long distanced senses of humor finally aligned on something, or Jackie always had such a nice and cute laugh, Eric almost wanted to listen to it more often.

" _Wait, I've come to the conclusion I like the sound of **Jackie Burkhart** dropping huge F bombs and such..._ _ **and**_ _enjoying the sound of her freaking laughter as well? The fuck is happening today?"_ Eric curiously thought to himself.

Eric removed the hand from her blanket covered shoulder, the green light in the car now showed more tears coming from her eyes, but Eric could see these weren't from the despair of the day, but the laughing, "Ohhh, my fucking _God_!" Jackie remarked hopelessly and loudly with a wide and toothy smile as she calmed down and wiped the tears from her eyes.

Jackie looked at Eric quickly and neither really knew what to say, the brunette just shrugged and laughed again, "Should I break up with him?" she asked suddenly, the smile died down but was still slightly present and her question wasn't really sarcastically asked, it was if she was genuinely asking him.

 _"Holy shit...that isn't really something you would ask to someone who isn't a friend...does she actually care about **my** opinion?" _ Eric thought immediately as she looked back at her, the look on her face told him this wasn't a question she asked rhetorically or casually. Jackie's eyes looked so... _worn_. For the first time since he met her, Eric was convinced Jackie might consider them _friends_. There was something about being friends with the rich and popular girl who mocked and viciously insulted him that made him feel...good. Almost like he wanted to be friends with her too...there was something about this girl that drew you to her, made you ache to be friends with her and Eric didn't know that feeling existed inside him for so long.

 _"This is your chance, don't fuck it up, dumbass!"_

Eric sighed slowly, "Do you want me to be honest?" as he asked, he reached over and open the glove compartment for the napkins his mother always put in there from restaurants and fast food places that Kitty _insisted_ on keeping and handed one to her and Jackie untangled her other small hands out of the blanket and took it.

Jackie thought for only a second, "I don't know, Eric…I think so..." she stated, unsurely, "...I just, I just get enough of the lying already from _him_...so I'd appreciate some truth right now...I think." she explained softly with a sniffle.

Eric watched as she wiped away the tears from the prior laughing, she finished quickly and looked back at him, clearly still awaiting an answer, he knew he had a great opportunity before to comfort her about her parents and he fucked that up _monumentally_ , and here Eric had another chance to try and help her out, and with her being lied to so much by that complete _idiot_ , he was not going to screw this chance up.

"Yes...you should. Not even counting the accidental attempts on your life...and your sanity, you... _you_ just deserve better...a guy who will be waiting to pick you up at school or practice a half hour early at the very least just in case. Takes you on dates somewhere that doesn't have a jungle gym or a ball pit, a guy who asks _you_ about how _your_ day is going rather than _you_ having to play mental games with _him_ to let him know something is bothering you. Someone who doesn't cheat on you with some sleazy ass whore…" as Eric was offering his two cents, he noticed that this must have been on his mind for a while with how everything just came out so naturally and without hesitation, he could see Jackie was taken back, he couldn't tell if it was in a good way or not.

"...you're the princess of Point Place, Jackie...you should be treated like one, don't you think?"

His words hung in the air and again, he couldn't get a read on her face, not knowing if she would lash out again or actually listen to him and really take in his words.

Jackie fell back in her seat crudely and looked down, Eric actually had much more to say but given the subject matter, he knew that giving such a tough medicine should be in a small dose.

Jackie eyes began filling up again, looking back at him and the level of sadness on her face made Eric's heart break for her while making him downright livid at Kelso for putting _this_ poor girl through such despair, _"Should have slammed a dunce cap on his dumb head instead…"_

"Eric, I…" the brunette was starting to say before the tears finally spilled out, the raven haired girl turned to face him more directly, the blanket still wrapped around her, she breathed a breath in trying to talk, "...I really tried with him...I can't remember the last time he tried talking with me about anything that really mattered. Michael doesn't sit me down and tell me what's going on with _him_ , he never sits me down to ask me how _I'm_ doing. Every time I try to just sit and talk with him about _us_...Michael just gets distracted...almost intentionally, it's like, it's the last thing he wants to do is just... _be_ with me, talking or...otherwise." Jackie used the napkin again to wipe the pesky tears again, Eric could see how torn up she was, "I never thought him not picking me up from practice would undo me so much like this...God, it's so fucking pathetic, Eric." Jackie told him in a mix of bitterness and despondency.

Eric put his hand over the blanket where her leg was, knowing she wouldn't shoo him away like before, "It's really not, Jackie...a stupid ass promise ring/necklace is what undid me and Donna, you'd be surprised how much these smaller things jump out at you when those big game changers have happened so many times already. It's like you're actually looking for a reason to question it, I questioned a lot of crap with me and Donna when I started to realize it wouldn't work. In a weird way, I'm glad Donna did that with the promise ring. That _one_ thing she did with that necklace almost felt like her showing me we weren't right for each other." Eric admitted, noticing how much of a distance he and Jackie had covered in one single car ride together versus the years of knowing each other growing up, it was shocking but in the good kind of way, it was strange but he couldn't help but feel like what they were doing was like what actual _friends_ are supposed to be for each other. It felt really good, to open up to someone he had known for years, but still hadn't known at all.

Jackie genuinely surprised him when her free hand went over his own hand on her leg, "I think you deserve better than Donna, Eric." the brunette told him and Eric knew in his chest that this wasn't one of those _'you said something nice about me, so I guess I'll say something nice about you'_ sort of moments that people usually do. Eric could tell Jackie actually meant it, and her reassuring smile spoke volumes, like an amp turned up to 11.

Eric chuckled softly, "Thanks, but...I don't think it's about getting someone who is _better_...just someone who's _right_...you know? Like, I'm sure there's a guy out there who will fall in love with everything Donna is, but I think I know it isn't me." he explained but he paused afterwards to really take in his own statement, he had never really _ever_ thought like this about his  Donna. It was the girl and boy next door fairytale and Eric found himself not pining for her anymore, he couldn't place when that ended, because he was a pathetic little mess when they broke up, and now he just...wasn't.

Jackie nodded and she too noticed the green light as well but was in no hurry to get home at the moment, despite how much she wanted to take a hot bath with a nice liquor bottle in hand, an honest conversation like this wasn't just rare for _her_ , but just rare for their whole group of friends in general. They tended to talk around a serious subject with jokes and teasing each other with nothing really getting solved, but this was a mix of blunt truth while still being a nice talk between friends.

Jackie looked back to him and he was just looking down thinking, Eric felt her eyes on him and he locked eyes with her again, "I guess first loves don't last, huh?" Jackie stated plainly.

Eric wasn't really sure how to respond to that, "I guess so. At least not the ones who turn a ring into a necklace and kiss other guys and _not_ tell you about it…" he joked slightly, trying to bring the mood up from being such a downer.

It kind of worked as Jackie bit back her smile, "Don't forget about the ones who try to give their girlfriends mind melting LSD acid strips!"

Eric spit out a loud laugh at that, "That goes without saying, Burkhart…" he stated with a smile, both Eric and Jackie found themselves pleasantly surprised at the direction this day had taken, Jackie was still pissed beyond all Hell but mostly with Michael, but Eric actually _did_ what he said he was _trying_ to do before: he was actually cheering her up...quite a bit, actually.

Jackie scoffed incredulously, "You know, I think the little thing you and Steven have where you joke about how screwed up his trailer trash family is actually works…!" the raven haired brunette jokes, but in all seriousness, it was actually kind of true.

"...you know, I think we learned something today!" Eric teased in an overly sarcastic manner and Jackie just laughed in return before pausing and her eyes went down for a second, "You know...Leslie and my other friends were all offering me a ride home when it started to drizzle, they kept telling me how the school doors were locked and how there were no awnings or anything to keep dry under...but I didn't listen." the Burkhart girl explained, her face looking more sad than before. Eric lost count of the number of times in the car ride in which he felt the ache to pull her into a hug.

Jackie shook her head vigorously as if she was acting out the encounter with her fellow cheerleaders again, " _'Nope! I know he'll be here! I swear, it's fine! He'll be be here any minute now, it's fine!'_ I just kept telling them he would be there over and over again...I was _so_ adamant...I know my boyfriend picking me up shouldn't be _that_ big of a deal, but with Michael? I'm grateful if he thinks twice about the fact I'm his girlfriend before shoving his tongue down some other girl's throat. This was such a small thing, but he somehow fucked it up!" the brunette stated incredulously, "A _real_ boyfriend would have picked me up...like you said, he would have been waiting out there well before practice had ended." she reiterated before locking eyes with his, "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't shown up, Eric…" Jackie told him in a soft voice, her stunning eyes looking right at him.

Eric gave her a smile in return, "What are friends for, right?" he said simply only for Jackie to give another one of those looks where he couldn't tell what she would say in response.

"So you think we're _friends_ , Eric?" Jackie finally responded but her face was suddenly emotionless now, and her stern tone and loaded question froze him up again, "Um...uh, shit...y-yes? Unless you, uh, you know...don't _want_ to be...which I totally get! I just thought...I-I-I don't know...whatever you want-" Eric was nervously twitching his way through that which lead Jackie's previously austere face to finally break into a amused ridden smile.

Eric scoffed at Jackie messing with him out of nowhere at a moment like this, "Relax, Eric...since you kind of...well, saved my life...we can be friends."

Eric looked genuinely shocked, "Uh, wow...cool! Yeah…" he hated how anytime Jackie or really anyone would do something he wasn't prepared for, how he would immediately lock up and sputter on like the crappy engine of his car.

Jackie chuckled softly, while pulling the blanket more tightly to her body, "As long as you promise not to tell anyone we're friends." the brunette stated with another smile gracing her face and Eric couldn't tell how serious she was but he decided to just go with it.

"Uh yeah, sure...you got a deal, Burkhart." Eric replied albeit with a hesitant smile, not knowing what to expect the next time they would meet after he dropped her off. Would it be like it never happened and she would continue to insult him in the most personal of ways like before?

If Eric were to honest, he didn't care, "Alright, let's get you home."

 _ **Author Note:**_ _Hopefully you guys enjoyed, wasn't too sure I like the ending because the chapter originally went on much longer. With Eric actually dropping her off and all that, but this chapter is really f*#cking long as it is, so all of that will be in the next chapter, whenever I can get around to uploading that. Again, sorry for my terrible updating schedule...I wish it was better but...better late than never? Maybe so, maybe not, I'm not really sure. Lol If you guys have a sec, just let me know what you thought of it, and thanks again if you're returning to read this after damn near 2 years or if you are new reader. Either way, thanks so much :-D Till next time!_


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